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Women can now undertake Islamic pilgrimages without a male guardian in Saudi Arabia, but that doesn't mean they're traveling alone -- communities are an important part of the religious experience

  • Written by Iqbal Akhtar, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Florida International University
imageAmerican Muslim women on pilgrimage at the Prophet's Mosque in Medina in 2023.Iqbal Akhtar, CC BY-NC

Saudi Arabia has changed its decadeslong rule that mandated single women be accompanied by a male relative when performing an Islamic pilgrimage, facilitating the participation of thousands of single Muslim women in the Hajj in 2023.

The new rules...

Read more: Women can now undertake Islamic pilgrimages without a male guardian in Saudi Arabia, but that...

Horse health research will help humans stay healthy, too, with insights on reining in diabetes and obesity

  • Written by Jane Manfredi, Associate Professor of Pathobiology and Diagnostic Investigation, Michigan State University
imageLearning how to treat endocrine disorders in horses may also lead to treatments in people, and vice versa.Catherine Falls Commercial/Moment via Getty Images

As a veterinary science researcher, equine surgeon and sports medicine and rehabilitation specialist, I’ve seen firsthand the similarities between horses and humans.

Both horses and...

Read more: Horse health research will help humans stay healthy, too, with insights on reining in diabetes and...

Laughter can communicate a lot more than good humor – people use it to smooth social interactions

  • Written by Adrienne Wood, Assistant Professor of Psychology, University of Virginia
imageA well-deployed laugh can help grease a social interaction, even if nothing is funny.Catherine Falls Commercial/Moment via Getty Images

Laughter is an everyday reminder that we humans are animals. In fact, when recorded laughter is slowed down, listeners can’t tell whether the sound is from a person or an animal.

We throw our heads back and...

Read more: Laughter can communicate a lot more than good humor – people use it to smooth social interactions

As contentious judicial 'reform' becomes law in Israel, Netanyahu cements his political legacy

  • Written by David Mednicoff, Chair, Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, and Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Public Policy, UMass Amherst
imageIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the country's parliament in Jerusalem on July 24, 2023. AP Photo/Maya Alleruzzo

Israel’s parliament passed a law on July 24, 2023, that limits the Supreme Court’s ability to rein in government actions, part of a broader proposal by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to...

Read more: As contentious judicial 'reform' becomes law in Israel, Netanyahu cements his political legacy

Decades of public messages about recycling in the US have crowded out more sustainable ways to manage waste

  • Written by Michaela Barnett, Founder, KnoxFill, University of Virginia
imageA worker sorts cardboard at a recycling center in Newark, N.J.Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

You’ve just finished a cup of coffee at your favorite cafe. Now you’re facing a trash bin, a recycling bin and a compost bin. What’s the most planet-friendly thing to do with your cup?

Many of us would opt for the...

Read more: Decades of public messages about recycling in the US have crowded out more sustainable ways to...

Will I ever need math? A mathematician explains how math is everywhere – from soap bubbles to Pixar movies

  • Written by Hortensia Soto, Professor of Mathematics, Colorado State University
imageIn addition to explaining natural phenomena, math can help strengthen your brain.Liz Arnold, CC BY-NDimage

Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.

Will I ever need math besides for school or work? – Hadassah G., age 9, New Jersey

It...

Read more: Will I ever need math? A mathematician explains how math is everywhere – from soap bubbles to...

Massachusetts is updating its sex education guidelines for the first time in 24 years

  • Written by Emily Rothman, Professor and Chair, Occupational Therapy; and Professor of Community Health Sciences, Boston University
imageA dozen U.S. states still do not mandate sex education in schools.Xavier Lorenzo/Moment via Getty Images

In June 2023, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts shared with the public a draft of a new framework that will guide how elementary, middle and high schools in the state approach sex education.

The last time Massachusetts issued guidelines that...

Read more: Massachusetts is updating its sex education guidelines for the first time in 24 years

Blame capitalism? Why hundreds of decades-old yet vital drugs are nearly impossible to find

  • Written by Geoffrey Joyce, Director of Health Policy, USC Schaeffer Center, and Associate Professor, University of Southern California
imageThere is presently no end in sight to the drug supply shortage. FG Trade/E+ via Getty Images

Past public ire over high drug prices has recently taken a back seat to a more insidious problem – no drugsat any price.

Patients and their providers increasingly face limited or nonexistent supplies of drugs, many of which treat essential conditions...

Read more: Blame capitalism? Why hundreds of decades-old yet vital drugs are nearly impossible to find

How book-banning campaigns have changed the lives and education of librarians – they now need to learn how to plan for safety and legally protect themselves

  • Written by Nicole A. Cooke, Baker Endowed Chair and Professor of Library and Information Science, University of South Carolina
imageLibrarian Sharice Towles checks in books at the main branch of the Reading Public Library circulation desk in Reading, Penn. Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images

Despite misconceptions and stereotypes – ranging from what librarians Gretchen Keer and Andrew Carlos have described as the “middle-aged, bun-wearing,...

Read more: How book-banning campaigns have changed the lives and education of librarians – they now need to...

This year's debate over defense spending threatens to disrupt a tradition of bipartisan consensus-building over funding the military

  • Written by Gibbs Knotts, Professor of Political Science, College of Charleston
imageMembers of the House Freedom Caucus speak to reporters on July 14, 2023, hours before the House passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act.Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images News/Getty Images

Each year for the past six decades, congressional representatives from both sides of the aisle have come together to pass the National Defense...

Read more: This year's debate over defense spending threatens to disrupt a tradition of bipartisan...

More Articles ...

  1. A sculptor of wind explains how to make fiber dance far above city streets
  2. Women's World Cup will highlight how far other countries have closed the gap with US – but that isn't the only yardstick to measure growth of global game
  3. Global diabetes cases on pace to soar to 1.3 billion people in the next 3 decades, new study finds
  4. First contact with aliens could end in colonization and genocide if we don't learn from history
  5. What is a target letter? 3 things to know about how the Justice Department notifies suspects, like Donald Trump, ahead of possible charges
  6. Targeting Trump for prosecution – 4 essential reads on how the Jan. 6 investigation laid the groundwork for the special counsel
  7. Exercise may or may not help you lose weight and keep it off – here's the evidence for both sides of the debate
  8. Registering refugees using personal information has become the norm – but cybersecurity breaches pose risks to people giving sensitive biometric data
  9. 175 years ago, the Seneca Falls Convention kicked off the fight for women's suffrage – an iconic moment deeply shaped by Quaker beliefs on gender and equality
  10. Using green banks to solve America’s affordable housing crisis – and climate change at the same time
  11. 'Zombie fires' in the Arctic: Canada's extreme wildfire season offers a glimpse of new risks in a warmer, drier future
  12. China needs immigrants
  13. FTC probe of OpenAI: Consumer protection is the opening salvo of US AI regulation
  14. Returning to the Moon can benefit commercial, military and political sectors – a space policy expert explains
  15. Actors are demanding that Hollywood catch up with technological changes in a sequel to a 1960 strike
  16. A 1-minute gun safety video helped preteen children be more careful around real guns – new research
  17. Events that never happened could influence the 2024 presidential election – a cybersecurity researcher explains situation deepfakes
  18. Why people tend to believe UFOs are extraterrestrial
  19. What do astronomers say about Moon landing deniers? Batting down the conspiracy theory with an assist from the 1969 Miracle Mets
  20. What the US can learn from affirmative action at universities in Brazil
  21. International African American Museum in Charleston, S.C., pays new respect to the enslaved Africans who landed on its docks
  22. Religion shapes vaccine views – but how exactly? Our analysis looks at ideas about God and beliefs about the Bible
  23. Impunity over Wagner mutiny signals further degradation of rule of law in Russia
  24. Democrats revive the Equal Rights Amendment from a long legal limbo -- facing an unlikely uphill battle to get it enshrined into law
  25. How I learned to stop worrying and love the doll – a feminist philosopher's journey back to Barbie
  26. As a summer heat wave pummels the US, an expert warns about the dangers of humidity – particularly for toddlers, young athletes and older adults
  27. Hollywood on the picket line – 5 unsung films that put America’s union history on the silver screen
  28. A US-Russia prisoner swap for reporter Evan Gershkovich could be tricky: 3 essential reads on the recent history
  29. Corals are starting to bleach as global ocean temperatures hit record highs
  30. Curing America's loneliness epidemic would make us healthier, fitter and less likely to abuse drugs
  31. Drugs and religion have been a potent combination for millennia, from cannabis at ancient funerary sites to psychedelic retreats today
  32. Is the US being hypocritical in taking years to destroy its chemical weapons, while condemning other nations for their own chemical weapons programs? A political philosopher weighs in
  33. Female physicists aren't represented in the media – and this lack of representation hurts the physics field
  34. A new, thin-lensed telescope design could far surpass James Webb – goodbye mirrors, hello diffractive lenses
  35. A new, thin-lensed telescope design could far surpass James Webb – goodbye mirrors, hello diffractive lenses
  36. Children, like adults, tend to underestimate how welcome their random acts of kindness will be
  37. Classic literature still offers rich lessons about life in the deep blue sea
  38. Strep throat can easily be confused with throat infections caused by viruses – here are a few ways to know the difference
  39. Sawfish, guitarfish and more: Meet the rhino rays, some of the world's most oddly shaped and highly endangered fishes
  40. Liberal CEOs were more likely to exit Russia following its invasion of Ukraine than more conservative corporate leaders
  41. The 21st Century Cures Act requires that patients receive medical results immediately – and new research shows patients prefer it that way
  42. What's on the agenda as Biden heads to NATO summit: 5 essential reads as Western alliance talks expansion, Ukraine
  43. Tuberculosis on the rise for first time in decades after COVID-19 interrupted public health interventions and increased inequality
  44. Kakhovka Dam breach in Ukraine caused economic, agricultural and ecological devastation that will last for years
  45. Why putting off college math can be a good idea
  46. China's ties to Cuba and growing presence in Latin America raise security concerns in Washington, even as leaders try to ease tensions
  47. Science activism is surging – which marks a culture shift among scientists
  48. Aging is complicated – a biologist explains why no two people or cells age the same way, and what this means for anti-aging interventions
  49. Police treatment in black and white – report on Minneapolis policing is the latest reminder of systemic racial disparities
  50. _E. coli_ is one of the most widely studied organisms – and that may be a problem for both science and medicine